An elderly Bradford couple have been left nearly £300 worse off after having their driveway resurfaced.

The 79-year-old and her 78-year-old husband, who do not want to be identified, agreed with a doorstep visitor called Mr Hird from Delta Landscaping to have the work done after he reduced the price from £350.

"He came round and gave us a leaflet and then showed my husband pictures of work he said his firm had carried out before," she said.

"We said we didn't want it done but he came back and said he would do it for £300.

"We said we would think about it then he phoned next morning and said he would reduce the price to £280.

"In the end we said yes.

"He said if we wanted the old surface taking up it would take two days but if we just wanted one on top it would take a day.

"We said we would have the skim and they only took about three hours. Now when it rains there are puddles everywhere because it's uneven. We just want them to put it right or give us our money back.

I know that £280 isn't much to some people, but it's a lot to us."

The leaflet contained no address but listed two mobile and one landline phone number which Rights and Wrongs traced to Colne in Lancashire.

The landline number was answered by a man who said he was paid to take messages for Mr Hird but had no way of contacting him and did not know where he lived.

Rights and Wrongs phoned one of the mobile numbers and a man answered who said his name was Hardy, and that he was a gipsy. He was not involved in drive-laying and he let people use his number in exchange for drinks.

We phoned the other mobile number and asked for Mr Hird.

A woman said he was out and gave us a mobile number - the one we had already tried - which she said was Mr Hird's own, personal mobile.

We phoned it again and the same man - who denied his name was Hird - swore before putting the phone down.

A West Yorkshire Trading Standards spokesman said: "People should not take the first quote they get - they should try several firms and take the one which gives the best value.

"And people should be wary of anyone who supplies quotes, invoices or any documents which do not have an address on them.

"If you have no address, you can't write to them or sue them if something goes wrong and they refuse to put it right."

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